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Its truck aging, local pantry sends message: You can help

By Andy Mai, amai@lowellsun.com

Updated:
07/05/2014 06:47:45 AM EDT

Mary Szczepanik of Dracut, a board member, secretary and grant writer for The Open Pantry of Greater Lowell, with the 2001 truck the pantry uses to pick up food in Boston. She says mechanical problems make it unreliable, and if they can't make the trip to Boston, they lose a week's supply of food. SUN / JULIA MALAKIE

LOWELL -- Thomas Buretta pulled his cart that held four crates of chocolate milk, three boxes of apples, two bags of onions and two boxes of sweet potatoes. As he browsed through the marketplace in The Greater Boston Food Bank, 4,213 pounds of food were being loaded into his 2001 Chevrolet delivery truck.

Buretta, president of the board of directors at The Open Pantry of Greater Lowell, has driven the same truck for 10 years and is making the pantry's weekly pilgrimage to get a shipment of food. He feels the engine whine as he steps on the accelerator. He makes sure not to step on the cracks as he loads the additional produce into the truck bed.

"You stand on the truck and you can look down at the ground," Buretta, 75, said. "Not a pleasant situation."

The pantry has raised $15,000 to go toward a new truck, well short of their $40,000 goal. They have applied for grants and asked for donations, to no avail. All this comes as they are "strongly considering" opening the pantry for an additional day, on Friday, beginning this fall.

The truck has been plagued with problems that will hinder the pantry's ability to provide to the community, according to Geoff Bryant, executive director of The Open Pantry. "If we're going to continue the program, we'll have to have a reliable truck."

The truck's transmission has caused problems for drivers. The power-steering pump and gas line had to be replaced due to rust. One trip to Boston resulted in the truck being towed.

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"How long can you drive on faith?" Bryant said.

The pantry operates on an annual budget of $95,000 and served more than 17,000 people last year. The Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program and USDA supply food banks with food, which is distributed for free to pantries.

"I don't think people realize the spectrum of people that use the food banks," said Rebecca Wisniewski, board member for The Open Pantry. She said low-income families are not the only ones using the pantry.

There have been talks about renting or leasing a truck if the pantry does not raise enough money. But many on the board agree the money could be used toward bettering the operation.

"We want to use our money to be open another day," Wisniewski said.

Buretta only drives the truck occasionally now, but he feels the pantry has to act before they push their luck too far.

"We've got to do something fairly soon," Buretta said. "Whether it's biting the bullet and buying a new one, or getting a used one."

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